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I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who really doesn't want to live to advanced old age! I'm "only" 68 but have advanced degenerative disk disease that has really affected my quality of life over the past ten years. I can't imagine living with this (worsening) pain for another 10 years, much less 20. I don't have grandchildren, I can't travel and there really isn't anything I haven't done that I'd miss if I died early. So I think if it was a cancer diagnosis that involved chemo, I'd pass. My only concern is, making sure I have all my final instructions spelled out (because I am a control freak and don't like the idea of loose ends), and that my house is clean so my judgmental family doesn't talk about me after I'm gone.
Have you ever gotten to the point where you really don't care if you live or die?.
Have I? No. But under certain circumstances I can see that happening. My mom was in a nursing home for seven years and at a certain point I think she would have wished to depart this life while she still knew what that meant (have a voice in her affairs, say goodbye, etc.) Being without mental powers or faculties would be the thing that would put me over the edge.
Knowing how I’ve handled other things, I probably would approach an physical illness as a project or challenge for as long as possible. I’ve known some people who refused to give up in the face of certain death from cancer and the determination gave them a little more time.
Absolutely! - Dying is just moving on toward our real home (which is not this world).
I'm not anxious to die, but, given the downward spiral of this world, have grown increasingly less enamored with what this world has to offer to a true believer.
Or even to a non-believer.
Given the current state of the world (politically, environmentally, economically), returning dust to dust might not be such a bad idea.
Have you ever gotten to the point where you really don't care if you live or die?
Living is hard, dying isn't all that hard from what I've seen. I know, some diseases are painful but, say, if you are diagnosed with extensive heart disease, did you ever get to the point where you were resigned to it?
Please don't try to dissect this post. I'm just asking.
Please tell me this will alleviate my fear of dying when my time comes. Right now having issues accepting that I will no longer be one with my body - fear of losing what I now know as my consciousness / self.
For those who fear loss of consciousness/self, there are myriads of intelligent books that deal with the subject, and they could offset your fears. There's no reason not to explore them.
Given the current state of the world (politically, environmentally, economically), returning dust to dust might not be such a bad idea.
Evidently I'm one of the few regulars here, who thinks that the world is mostly improving. Life today is safer, more commodious and more pleasant than probably at any prior time. I miss the equity bull-market of the 1980s and 1990s. I'd like to have been active during the heyday of my profession (aeronautical engineering)... 1930s through 1960s. And I'm disappointed that at least by my reckoning, the pace of innovation is attenuating.
But were I to have had children (which, for myriad reasons, I don't), I'd feel optimistic about their prospects, vs. my own, and would feel even more optimistic about the grandchildren's prospects.
None of this however is enough to actually recommend having children, or a long life for one's own self. I'm better off today, than I'd have been 50 or 100 or 200 or whatever years ago. But best off, is to outright never having been born. So, while I'm optimistic about humanity and human history overall, I'm skeptical of the ultimate, the "ontological" value of intelligent life.
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